Former Eagles defensive lineman Reggie White shows the Super Bowl ring he won with Green Bay during a speaking engagement in 1999. (AP Photo/Dave Weaver)

PHILADELPHIA — Word association time.

Best Eagles offensive player ever: Steve Van Buren.

Best Eagles defensive player ever: Reggie White.

Best Eagles special teams player of all time: David Akers.

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Best Eagles offensive lineman ever: Al Wistert.

Last but not least, greatest Eagles player ever: Chuck Bednarik.

Just typing the names prompts an adrenaline-filled walk down memory lane.

It conjures images of White, double-teamed, tossing opponents around like rag dolls on his way to a club-record 21 sacks in just a dozen games in the 1987 season. The late White could outrun and overpower the bulls of Pamplona, yet no Eagle was more humble. White helped spread a Christian message to the City Team Ministry in Chester, among other places.

“I just can’t imagine anyone being as dominant as what I saw every day of Reggie White,” said Eagles great Mike Quick, now a radio analyst. “What I was able to witness from Reggie White, what he could do to a 320-pound man … or even two of them for that matter … I can’t imagine anyone being more dominant than he was.”

Van Buren led the NFL in rushing and in touchdowns in four of his eight seasons. He was all-pro in five of those campaigns. In 1948-49, Van Buren led the Eagles to back-to-back NFL championships averaging 1,138 yards from scrimmage and 11 touchdowns.

Van Buren enjoyed hanging out in Delaware County with teammates, including backup quarterback Bill Mackrides.

“Steve gave you everything he had and never complained,” Mackrides said. “He was a perfect football player. He always wanted to help the team.”

In some of the old footage of Van Buren, he’s breaking runs to the outside or bursting through a pile of defenders.

Wistert is in those frames with Van Buren. The perennial all-pro opened holes for Van Buren and played 95 games for the Eagles over nine seasons. Football historians feel Wistert is as deserving of the Pro Football Hall of Fame status as Van Buren, White and Bednarik.

Akers scored more points with his left foot than any NFL player from 2000-2009, when he put 1,169 on the board.

Akers led the NFC in scoring three times during the decade and was named to the league’s all-decade team.

The 5-10, 200-pound kicker made the Pro Bowl four times with the Eagles. Akers rushed twice for 25 yards and completed his only pass attempt with the Eagles, an 11-yarder to Matt Schoebel.

Then there is Bednarik, the last of the NFL’s true two-way players.

Teammates including Pete Retzlaff, who reinvented the tight end position, argue that Concrete Charlie was one of the best defenders of all time.

“There was never a linebacker that played any better than Chuck … ever,” Retzlaff said. “Include Sam Huff, Ray Nitschke, all the rest of those guys. They had much bigger names back then because they became more popular and they were mentioned more often. When Chuck played, I mean he could play defense all by himself … and well. Nobody could play this game at linebacker better than Chuck. And I haven’t seen it today, yet, anybody that’s any better than he is.”

It’s difficult comparing Eagles players from different eras. Who saw a lot of Wistert, Van Buren or Bednarik, for that matter?

Long-time Eagles linebacker Bill Bergey summed up the task of identifying the greatest Eagles player ever.

“Reggie White was a great one,” Bergey said. “Van Buren was a great running back in the 1940’s. Bednarik was a great one. It’s so hard to say. There’s longevity, which is a big factor. And Bednarik went both ways. Tom Brookshier, he was a little stinger. He made things happen. Billy Bradley, a lot of interceptions. Ron Jaworski, I thought, was a great teammate. But Reggie is probably at the top of the list for me just because he did so many great things.”

Ultimately it’s Bednarik who shows up the most, and stands the test of time. There’s the signature pose — fist cocked — standing over stone-cold-out-of-it Giants receiver Frank Gifford in 1960. There are 14 seasons of Bednarik playing offense and defense.

Bednarik debuted on the 1949 NFL title team. At 35 years old, he and Norm Van Brocklin led the Birds to the 1960 NFL championship.

“For him in 1960 to go both ways, to snap the ball, play offense and then play linebacker in the same game, you had to be a great football player to do all that,” Retzlaff said.

If you have to pick the greatest Eagle of all time, the finalists are Bednarik and White.

“I saw some of Otho Davis’ tape of Bednarik,” Quick said. “But I just can’t imagine anyone being as dominant as what I saw every day of Reggie White.”

No one described it more eloquently than Merrill Reese, the voice of the Eagles.

“He played for championship teams separated by a decade,” Reese said. “He played two positions. He was a great linebacker, then when they needed him he was a center. He was the face of the franchise for a long time. He was part of one of the biggest plays in Eagles history, the famous hit on Frank Gifford. It was one of the most memorable plays ever. He was just an amazing football player.”

Reese was sitting in a section of the end zone stands at Franklin Field when the Eagles defeated Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers to win the 1960 NFL championship. The trolley ride home was electric.

“It was the day after Christmas,” Reese said. “I had won a chance to buy a ticket for $15 in a lottery in the Philadelphia Bulletin. Just think about the way the game ended, with Chuck Bednarik sitting on top of Jim Taylor as the seconds ticked off the clock. He was just involved in so many monumental plays for this franchise for over a decade.”